(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising nevirapine.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Nevirapine, or 11-cyclopropyl-5,11-dihydro-4-methyl-6H-dipyrido[3,2-b:2′,3′-e][1,4]diazepin-6-one, is a known agent for the treatment of infection by HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus, type 1), which acts through specific inhibition of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. Its synthesis and use are described in various publications including, inter alia, U.S. Pat. No. 5,366,972 and European Patent 0429987B1. Viramune® tablets, a drug product comprising nevirapine, has been approved, in many countries, for use in the treatment of HIV-1 infection.
The currently marketed Viramune® tablets is an immediate release (IR) formulation that is intended to be administered twice daily in order to maintain a therapeutically appropriate blood level of the active ingredient, nevirapine. For the convenience of patients, and to help ensure proper dosing compliance, there has been a longstanding, unmet need for an orally administered, extended release (XR) formulation of nevirapine that could be administered only once per day, while still maintaining a therapeutically appropriate blood level of the active ingredient.
Those having skill in the pharmaceutical art and familiarity with nevirapine will appreciate that nevirapine possesses physicochemical properties that would call into question the feasibility of an XR formulation. More particularly, it will be appreciated that XR formulations are generally designed to be gradually absorbed during transit through the intestines, where the pH is high. Nevirapine is a weak base, and it accordingly can be expected to exhibit low solubility in the intestines. (Nevirapine is a Class II drug substance according to the Biopharmaceutics Classification System.) For this reason, it is reasonable to expect that an XR formulation of nevirapine might transit the GI tract and be excreted without sufficient dissolution and absorption of the nevirapine. This would make an XR formulation unworkable.
Nevirapine has at least one other liability that makes the development of an XR formulation unusually challenging: To be safe, tolerable and effective, the plasma level must never be allowed to fall below the threshhold at which viral replication is inhibited and it must never rise to the level at which there is toxicity or intolerance. For nevirapine, the band between the two is relatively narrow. This means that Cmax,ss/Cmin,ss must be quite flat. Safety/tolerability and efficacy of the immediate release formulation have previously been established while showing a fairly “flat” PK profile observed under steady state conditions after twice daily administration (Cmax,ss/Cmin,ss=1.8 approx). Any extended release (XR) formulation would have to exhibit a peak/trough ratio that is equal to or even less than that of the IR formulation administered twice daily, despite once daily administration of the XR. Otherwise, with a larger peak/trough ratio than observed with IR, the XR formulation would likely be inferior in its clinical risk/benefit profile.
With these rather significant challenges in mind, it is the object of the present invention to provide an orally administered XR formulation of nevirapine.